Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

This is not the Super Bowl. It’s not the World Series. It’s not the Finals.

It’s not a game.

You don’t have to choose sides.

You don’t have to buy the t-shirt and cap and wave the flag of your “team.”

Jews are not a team.

Arabs are not a team.

Neither side deserves your unconditional loyalty.

Neither side deserves your unbridled condemnation.

This didn’t start last weekend.

It didn’t start last month or last year or even last century.

It didn’t start in 1973 or 1967 or ‘48 or ‘29.

It started 4,000 years ago when Abraham fathered two children by two different women.

God promised Abraham he would be the “father of many nations.”

Years passed and his wife Sarah — then 77 and still not pregnant — encouraged Abraham to have a night in the next tent with her surrogate, enslaved handmaiden Hagar.

That interaction resulted in the birth of Abraham’s son, Ishmael.

Ishmael was 14 when Sarah and Abraham — then 90 and 100 — had Isaac.

The romp with Hagar had been Sarah’s idea, but once she had her own son, buyer’s remorse set in — she prevailed upon Abraham to load Hagar and Ishmael onto a camel and drop them off in the deserts of Arabia.

Abraham gave them bread and water and came back home, abandoning them to wander hungry and thirsty until God caused a well to appear.

Back home, Isaac grew up and had Jacob and Esau. Jacob had twelve sons and got in a fight with an angel who changed his name to “Israel.” The families of his sons became the Twelve Tribes of Israel or The Children of Israel or “God’s Chosen People,” if you’re writing your own history.

Islam teaches that Abraham made a return trip to the deserts of Arabia when Ishmael was grown and together they built Kaaba, the cube-shaped building in Mecca where Islam was birthed.

Judaism taught that a Messiah would appear and save the world.

Jesus was born approximately 2,023 years ago — the calendar begins with his birth.

Traditionally, the calendar was divided by BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini which is Latin for “in the year of the Lord”) — Jesus was born in the Year 1 AD and died in the Year 33 AD.

Abraham lived approximately 2,000 years before Christ was born, which would have been around the Year 2000 BC.

Judaism, which was founded by Father Abraham, is therefore approximately 4,000 years old (2,000 years before Christ’s birth plus 2,023 years from the time Christ lived until today).

[In more recent times, to remove what many believed was a Christian aspect of the secular Gregorian calendar, “BC” (Before Christ) became “BCE” (Before the Common Era) and “AD” (Anno Domini) became “CE” (Common Era) which began with the Year 1 when Christians and Jews began to develop a common history.]

Judaism traces back to Abraham through Isaac, the son of Abraham and his wife Sarah.

Islam traces back to Abraham through Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Sarah’s enslaved surrogate, Hagar.

Christianity traces back to the birth of Christ in the Year 1, but subscribes to most of prior Jewish history which Christians refer to as the “Old Testament.”

Jacob (Abraham’s grandson and Isaac’s son) had a favorite among his 12 sons: Joseph. Jacob showed such favoritism to Joseph that 10 of his other sons got together and sold Joseph into Egyptian slavery when he was 17. The brothers dipped Joseph’s favorite coat into goat’s blood and presented it to their grief-stricken father.

The Pharaoh was disturbed by a recurring dream. He dreamed he was standing on the banks of the Nile River when seven fat cows came up out of the river followed by seven skinny cows which ate the fat cows.

A ranking official in the Egyptian government told the Pharaoh of a young Hebrew slave named Joseph who could interpret dreams.

Joseph told the Pharaoh his dreams meant there would be seven “years of plenty” with unusually productive harvests, followed by seven years of severe famine.

The Pharaoh was so impressed, he put Joseph in charge of building grain towers and overseeing the storage of the bumper crops, to be used during the years of famine.

Joseph’s family back home didn’t get the memo — they lived through the seven years of plenty without storing excess crops; they suffered greatly during the years of famine.

Finally, Jacob (“Israel”) sent some of his sons to Egypt to buy grain, not knowing that Joseph — the son he thought was dead — was the one in charge of distributing the stored grain.

Eventually, Joseph moved his entire family to Egypt where they were well received — at first.

But as the families of the twelve sons of Jacob (the Twelve Tribes of Israel) grew in number and strength, the Egyptians decided they had to enslave them to keep them from taking over.

Thus began the Jewish period of “Egyptian Bondage” where they were enslaved for 400 years before Moses led them out of bondage, across the Red Sea, and into the “Promised Land” — Palestine or present day Israel.

The Hebrew people (Jews) lived in their “Promised Land” (Israel) for about 1,000 years before the Babylonian Empire (Iraq) invaded and took most of them captive back to Babylon where they were again enslaved for 70 years — this was about 500 years before the birth of Christ.

Babylon later fell to Persia (Iran) and Persian King Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland to rebuild their temple and wall.

[Modern day evangelicals liken Trump to King Cyrus — a nonbeliever used as a vessel by God to bring about positive results for believers.]

In the year 63 BCE (63 years before the birth of Christ) Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem and again subjected the Jews to foreign rule.

Pagan Romans ruled the Middle East for 400 years; Christian Romans — beginning with the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity — ruled for another 300 years.

Most of the Jews were expelled from their land in the Year 135 CE (135 years after the birth of Christ) when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, annexed Judaea, and drove the Jews out of Palestine.

In the Year 1290, King Edward I of England issued The Edict of Expulsion expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of England.

In 1492 Catholic Monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon issued The Alhambra Decree expelling all Jews from Spain.

In 1938, Jews were expelled from Poland.

Beginning in 1941, Nazi Germans exterminated six million Jews.

In the 20 years following the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 more than 850,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries including Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Morocco.

In 1979 70,000 Jews were expelled from Iran.

Although it is no longer said out loud, evangelical Christians believe the centuries of persecution against Jews is God’s punishment for “the Jews killing Jesus.”

During the time Jesus was alive, Israel was under the occupation of Roman forces. Only the Romans could carry out a death sentence; technically, it was the Romans who executed Jesus.

But it was the Jewish religious leaders who arrested him and turned him over to Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. And Jesus was tried for blasphemy of the Jewish religion, not for a crime against Rome.

Furthermore, the Romans had a tradition of pardoning a Jewish convict each year as an act of goodwill towards the Jewish subordinates. Barabbas was a Jew who had been convicted of participating in an insurrection against the Romans. Roman Governor Pilate — who only reluctantly found Jesus guilty — implored the Jewish religious leaders to let him pardon Jesus. But the Jewish religious leaders and supporters of Barabbas chanted “release unto us Barabbas,” drowning out any Jewish calls for the release of Jesus.

Dismayed, Pilate called for a basin of water and ceremoniously washed his hands, declaring he did not want Jesus’ blood on his hands. Undaunted, the Jewish religious leaders retorted, “Let his blood be upon us and our children.”

This, according to the New Testament — which was wholly written by Christians.

What really happened — or if it happened at all — is irrelevant to the fact that this is what many Christians believe.

And this belief — that the Jewish religious leaders arrested Jesus, indicted him, turned him over to the Roman authorities, and passed on the opportunity to have him pardoned (collectively known as “killing Jesus”) — was openly embraced and discussed in Catholic and evangelical circles for 2,000 years, all the way up until Mel Gibson made The Passion of Christ in 2004 and went on a drunken anti-Semitic tirade in 2006.

The Passion of Christ was and remains the most favorite movie of all time for many deeply-steeped evangelicals. But it caused a huge backlash in the general public, as it was apparently the first time many people had ever heard of the commonly-accepted Christian belief that the execution of Christ was at the hands of the Jews.

More horrendous is the accompanying belief that the Holocaust was God’s punishment on the Jews for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, “killing him,” and praying that his blood be upon them and their descendants.

Following the public outcry over The Passion of Christ, many evangelical leaders began trying to soften their presentation of these beliefs, focusing on the technicality that the Romans, not the Jews, did the actual killing; and, making a distinction in their accusations — they now say it was the “Jewish religious leaders” and “Barabbas supporters,” not the Jewish people, who blocked the pardon of Jesus and screamed for the blood of Jesus to be on their hands.

But that neither changed their core beliefs or erased the years of Catholic and evangelical teachings that helped lead to the persecution of Jews.

Pastor John Hagee is perhaps the most passionate supporter of the State of Israel among all evangelical preachers. He holds not only the view that the Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves, but also that Hitler was used by God as a “hunter” to cause Jews from all over the world to return to their homeland and establish a state in 1948 — the event evangelicals believe was a necessary first step to fulfill end-time prophecies.

When the Klan was more active for the 100 years between the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965, there was little difference between the membership of the Klan and the membership of local Baptist deacon boards.

The Klan’s extreme hatred of Jews was rooted in the Christian belief that “the Jews killed Jesus.” Their hatred was “justified” by the New Testament teachings of Apostle Paul in the 11th Chapter of the Book of Romans where he intricately explains that the Jews were God’s Chosen People but because they rejected Jesus as the Messiah, God cut them out and replaced them with Christians.

Paul uses the metaphor of “root and branches” saying the natural branches (Jews) were cut off because of their non-belief and the wild branches (Christians) were grafted in.

The belief that the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah and killed him and were therefore disowned by God and replaced with Christians, spilled over from the church-influenced Klan to other white supremacist groups and militias and nationalistic Christian terrorists.

This belief is also what gives many evangelicals their arrogance and sense of entitlement — they literally believe they are now “the chosen ones.”

And it is this belief — that God is punishing the Jews for rejecting Christ — that underlies the Arab belief that the land of Palestine (Israel) now belongs to them.

The entire 17th Chapter (Surah) of the Quran, along with Surah 2:124 and Surah 3:25 acknowledge that the land of Palestine was first given to the Children of Israel, Abraham’s line through Issac. These scriptures in the Quran teach that God cut off the Jews for disobedience and restored them when Persian King Cyrus allowed them to return to Israel.

But, according to the Quran, God promised to restore them only once and when they were disobedient again in Year 1 through Year 33 by rejecting Christ as the Messiah, God expelled them from their land a final time (in Year 135 at the hands of the Romans) and gave the land to Abraham’s more deserving line, the descendants of Ishmael.

The descendants of Ishmael (Arabs) and the descendants of Issac (Jews) have literally been fighting over “The Promised Land” (Israel/Palestine) for 4,000 years.

And both believe whatever means they must employ, are justified to achieve their ownership and occupation of the land promised to them by God.

Both the Torah and the Quran teach that the land originally was given to the Jews; the Quran contains additional scriptures which say God took the land from the Jews and gave it to the Arabs because the Jews rejected Jesus.

Over the years there are clear instances where the Jews have been attacked, conquered at home; carried away into captivity, expelled from their homeland; expelled from the lands to which they fled; interned into death camps, slaughtered en masse.

All because of the common belief held by Muslims and Christians that the Jews, originally God’s Chosen People, fell out of favor with God and were cut out of everything because they rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

The Arabs in Palestine have also suffered horrendous injustices, often at the hand of Israel — the persecuted became the persecutors.

Israel’s daily horrendous persecution of the Palestinian people lies at the foot of this latest retribution by Hamas.

This is why Saturday’s attacks by Hamas are being called “Israel’s 9/11” — both incidents were launched by terrorists seeking retribution for Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians.

When asked why he had called for Muslims to take up arms against America, Osama Bin Laden responded to ABC News’ John Miller in 1998:

“Their presence has no meaning save one and that is to offer support to the Jews in Palestine who are in need of their Christian brothers to achieve full control over the Arab Peninsula which they intend to make an important part of the so called Greater Israel” — Osama launched the 9/11 attacks against America for our support of Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians.

To be consistent, if you are going to lament the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda on America, you have to lament Saturday’s attacks by Hamas on Israel — they were launched for the exact same reason.

To be consistent, if you mourned the loss of innocent lives in the Twin Towers, you have to mourn the loss of innocent lives slaughtered at the outdoor concert in Israel this past Saturday.

To be consistent, if you think innocent Israelis “deserved” Saturday’s slaughter for prior bad acts committed in their name by Netanyahu and the hardliners in the Israeli government, you have to also believe innocent Americans in the towers “deserved” to die for the US government’s support of Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians.

To be consistent, if you are upset about Saturday’s slaughter of innocent Israelis, you should be equally upset about Israel’s atrocities daily inflicted on Palestinians.

To be consistent, if you object to Israel’s disproportionate overkill as retribution for Saturday’s attacks, you should have objected to Bush killing 100,000 Iraqis in your name, as retribution for 2,700 Americans dying in the towers.

The population of Israel is approximately 10 million, compared to approximately 350 million in America — we are 35 times larger than Israel.

Israel lost 1,000 innocent civilians in Saturday’s attacks.

Proportionally, that’s the equivalent of us losing 35,000.

When we lost “only” 2,700 on 9/11, not only did we inflict a grossly disproportionate response by slaughtering 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, we literally decimated the WRONG COUNTRY…. Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11; it was funded and planned completely by people with ties to Saudi Arabia.

There is a lot of advocacy pressure right now on social media urging and demanding that people fully support one side while condemning the other. Many conservatives demand support of Israel because of the Bible, without looking at the equities on both sides; too many liberals are getting awfully close to saying the innocent Israeli citizens “deserve” the massacres of Saturday as retribution for what Netanyahu and his hardliners are doing to the Palestinian people.

Average Israeli citizens have the same control over Netanyahu, that you had 20 years ago over Bush when he launched “Shock & Awe” in 2003 on the innocent people of Iraq.

There was nothing you could do to stop Bush.

But your failure to stop him didn’t mean you deserved to die at the hands of Iraqis seeking retribution.

The innocent citizens of Israel cannot stop Netanyahu; they don’t deserve to die at the hands of Hamas for the sins of Netanyahu.

The vast majority of Israeli citizens are totally innocent with no control over what their government does.

The vast majority of Palestinians are totally innocent with no control over what Hamas does in their name.

The vast majority of Americans are innocent with no control over the US government’s devastating war machinery.

You can hold empathy and concern for the innocent Israelis, simultaneously with the empathy and concern you hold for the innocent Palestinians.

You can totally condemn Hamas at the same time you totally condemn Netanyahu and the hardliners in the Israeli government.

You can simultaneously express loyalty to the innocents on both sides; you can simultaneously express condemnation of the bad actors on both sides — you shouldn’t feel pressured or bullied to accept one side as totally wrong and the other side as totally right and you should never hold innocent civilians responsible for what their respective leaders do.

Antisemitism is deep and fierce and ever-present because it is the one thing Christians and Muslims agree on — both Christian and Muslim scriptures acknowledge Jews as once being God’s chosen people, but then condemn them as falling out of favor with God because they rejected Jesus.

It is this Christian/Muslim belief that has led to centuries of persecution of Jews; it is this belief that leads many Arabs to conclude that they are the rightful owners of all of Palestine and the Jews must be eradicated.